Will busy Erie corridor ever be suitable for walkers, wheelchairs?

Monday

Before his health limited his mobility, Young, 72, said he learned to appreciate the challenges the disabled face in his professional life. Young occasionally conducted Americans with Disabilities Act compliance checks in his job as a property management consultant in Indiana.

Since Young moved to the Erie-area six years ago he has found several areas inaccessible to people who use scooters, wheelchairs and other mobility devices.

One of them is Erie's busiest shopping complex and retail corridor — the Millcreek Mall and upper Peach Street.

"Before, when I was driving, I realized it's just not set up for bicycles or pedestrians," said Young, who uses mapping applications that provide street-level views to plan trips out of the house. "It's not unlike many other cities in mall areas. But now that I use a scooter or the bus, I realize there are just a lot of places I can't get to. And I can't get there."

Young wonders if and when the shopping district will ever be fully suitable for pedestrians and people who use mobility devices.

Young asked the question as part of the Erie Times-News' new InquErie initiative, in which reporters investigate reader-submitted questions. Young said his negative experiences are limited to the area outside the mall, specifically the parking lot and driveways leading to it, and the upper Peach Street corridor.

Joe Bell, the spokesman for the Ohio-based Cafaro Company, which owns the Millcreek Mall, said the mall itself is easily accessible for people who use a wheelchair or other device. Outside the mall, there's a new bus stop outside of Boscov's so Erie Metropolitan Transit Authority vehicles can drop off people at a convenient location.

Sidewalks fronting the mall and its out-lots, like those of Dick's Sporting Goods, are handicap-accessible, meaning they include curb cuts that allow someone to ride a wheelchair from street level to sidewalk level, Bell said.

"In special-needs cases, bus drivers are able and willing to accommodate passengers to drop them right off at any point they want right there on the mall property," Bell said. "It's all just a matter asking the driver to do that."

Young said the parking lot can be difficult to navigate on a scooter. There are no sidewalks along the driveways leading into the mall from either Peach Street or Interchange Road. Young also believes the parking lots need better signage and dedicated lanes for pedestrians, bicyclists and people who use mobility devices.

Millcreek Mall officials are willing to assist anyone who needs help, Bell said, and the mall is always looking to add access points or improve access whenever it has to fix or pave roads and lots.

"We want to make sure that we accommodate the needs of all of our visitors, especially those with special needs who may have disabilities," Bell said. "And so it's good that they bring it to our attention."

Shona Eakin, the CEO of Voices for Independence, a nonprofit that advocates for people with disabilities, said the mall is highly responsive to concerns. Most of the complaints the agency hears regarding the mall are about motorists parking in handicapped parking spaces and van-accessible spaces.

Others have told the agency that there are sometimes lengthy bus delays to go from the mall to Walmart or other stores farther south, in Summit Township. And they sometimes find it difficult to cross busy streets in a wheelchair.

On Peach Street itself, sidewalks stretch on both the east and west sides of the roadway from Access Road/Douglas Drive at the entrance of the Summit Towne Center south to the Interstate 90 interchange. However, gaps in the sidewalk system exist further north, including near Kuntz Road by the mall.

"You can take sidewalks from the mall all the way down past 38th Street, because I've done it," Eakin said. "But then going the other way (south), you can't."

Summit Township resident Ted Radomski, 68, lives on South Hill Road, which connects to Kuntz Road to the east of Peach Street. Radomski has been walking in this sidewalk-less area for about two months because of car problems. Some weeks he walks this stretch two or three times to go shopping or to eat at a restaurant.

"If you're really pressed for time and are in a hurry, you can make better time on the (east) side," he said. "But if you don't know that you can get hung up, especially when you see the cars coming the same way you are. It can be a tight squeeze. You don't have much space to walk."

Radomski said the stretch is dangerous.

"I've been lucky so far," he said.

Two pedestrians have died in the past five years after being struck by vehicles as they walked on the shoulder of the road.

After years of inaction, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation plans to install a sidewalk along Peach Street south on Kuntz Road. The hope is for work to start in 2019, but higher costs and additional design work could push the start of construction to 2020, said Brian McNulty, assistant executive of design for PennDOT District 1, and PennDOT Project Manager Christine Boyer-Krantz.

A dispute over liability issues between Millcreek Township supervisors and PennDOT delayed the project in 2017. The township and PennDOT resolved the dispute earlier this year.

The project's cost was initially estimated at around $400,000. McNulty and Boyer-Krantz said Wednesday that the price tag is now $1 million. The project is not fully funded at this point. The Erie Metropolitan Planning Organization gave the project funding priority in 2016. McNulty said PennDOT might seek additional financial assistance from the MPO.

The new sidewalk will be built from the bridge over Walnut Creek to the entrance of Wendy's restaurant. Boyer-Krantz said additional bridge work, including deck repairs, and drainage features have driven up the cost.

PennDOT is also at work this summer building a walkway along Interchange Road, south of the mall property, as part of a $17 million project to ease traffic congestion.

The draft of Millcreek Township's comprehensive plan, Embrace Millcreek, calls for several improvements along key commercial gateways, including Peach Street.

"When possible, the number of travel lanes and/or widths should be reduced to make way for bike lanes, street trees, and sidewalks," the report says. "High visible crosswalks, Leading Pedestrian Intervals (LPI), and 'share the road' signs should be considered."

Millcreek Township Supervisor John Morgan has been a proponent of the Peach Street sidewalk project for more than two years, including during his time as director of the MPO. All municipalities, he said, must think beyond vehicular traffic when planning transportation projects. Peach Street is one example, he said.

"It's very important that the township accommodate all forms of transportation," Morgan said. "You've got low-income housing nearby, you've got neighbors nearby, you've got people trying to walk to work and walk to the mall. It's important that we fill that gap. It's a problem that I was identifying back when I was with the county. That gap never should've been left behind."

Matthew Rink can be reached at 870-1884 or by email. Follow him on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/ETNrink.

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